Demos speaks out on Bridgewater recall ruling

Tuesday

Aug 14, 2012 at 12:01 AMAug 14, 2012 at 2:15 PM

Bridgewater Town Councilor Mike Demos said the recent recall ruling will “create great disruption and instability throughout town government” by setting a “ridiculously low threshold” for removing town officials.

“I don't understand the logic behind this ruling. The 1990 Recall Act was explicitly for the Board of Selectmen-Open Town Meeting form of government that is no longer in existence. It was to recall town-wide elected officials and required signatures for 10 percent of all registered voters,” Demos said.

Rebecca Hyman

Bridgewater Town Councilor Mike Demos said the recent recall ruling will “create great disruption and instability throughout town government” by setting a “ridiculously low threshold” for removing town officials.

“I don't understand the logic behind this ruling. The 1990 Recall Act was explicitly for the Board of Selectmen-Open Town Meeting form of government that is no longer in existence. It was to recall town-wide elected officials and required signatures for 10 percent of all registered voters,” Demos said.

That’s a high bar, he said, pointing out that when Citizens Forum tried to collect the 1,500 signatures needed to recall an at-large councilor, Michael Berolini, it failed to do so.

But according to the court ruling, for district councilors — such as Demos and Peter Riordan, the subjects of the current recall effort by Citizens Forum — petitioners need only collect signatures from 10 percent of registered voters of the district, not town-wide.

Demos called that a “simplistic interpretation.”

Riordan did not return calls for comment.

“This ruling means in District 5, which only has 791 registered voters, only 79 registered voters would need to sign a recall petition to subject the precinct councilor to a recall election. That is fewer than the 100 signatures needed for the affidavit to start the process,” Demos said.

“In this example alone, how is it then logical that the 1990 recall law for the former government fits nicely with the current scheme of the new government?” Demos asked.

“To therefore suggest that there are not any sharp conflicts between the 1990 Act and the Charter is the equivalent of trying to square a circle,” he said.

Demos did not say whether he is considering appealing the ruling, but he did say: “If this ruling goes unchallenged, it will cause great pause for others to consider serving the town's best interest.”

“Essentially, elected terms of office now mean very little. A small vocal group at anytime can now gather as few as 80 signatures to initiate a recall,” Demos said.

Demos defended his record and said the recall is “about getting rid of the people that are working for the people.”

“This small group consisting mostly of longtime residents and former town officials fiercely opposed my two successful runs for elected office and nearly every initiative and major reform I presented,” he said.

He cited as examples of his initiatives that were opposed: “unpopular but necessary spending reductions” prior to the passage of a Proposition 2 ½ override in 2010; the introduction of independent audits; boosting education spending to reduce large class sizes and reinstate electives such as music and art; conservative revenue estimates that turned a free cash deficit into a surplus; and demanding “accountability and oversight” at the transfer station and on the Whispering Wood controversy.

Demos said he likely would have faced recall as a selectman “before such successes were achieved” if the recall threshold had been as low back then.

Demos said the recent revelations about employee contracts signed by Former Town Manager Troy Clarkson without the Council’s knowledge or consent demonstrate why “the Council’s oversight was so necessary” — the very oversight Citizens Forum objected to as “interference,” he said.

Demos, whose term expires in April, 2014, said he has not yet decided whether he will stand for election in the recall, which Town Clerk Ron Adams has suggested be scheduled for Oct. 27.

“I have not done anything morally or lawfully wrong other than take on the difficult issues in the worst of fiscal times to move this town forward,” Demos said.

“It has been an extremely difficult year for my family that requires reflection before the next course of action is decided,” he said.